Ms. Zahira Kamal is the Director of Palestinian Women Research and Documentation Center-UNESCO and ex-Minister of Women’s Affairs of the Palestinian (2003-2006). She was the Director General of the Gender Planning and Development at the Palestinian Government (1996-2003).
She served as Coordinator of the Women’s Affairs Technical Committee (1992-1997). She was a founding member of the Palestinian Federation of Women’s Action and has served on the boards of several women’s organizations including Jerusalem Link, Women’s Center for Legal and Social Counseling, and the Jerusalem Center for Women.
In 1978 she founded and headed the women’s work committee, affiliated with the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) which became the Union of Palestinian Women’s Action Committees in 1989. She was held in administrative detention for six months in 1979 and then placed under town arrest in Jerusalem from June 1980 to March 1986. Kamal joined the Palestinian Democratic Union (FIDA) when the DFLP split and became a member of its executive committee.
She is one of the founders of the International Women Commission for Just Peace between Palestinians and Israelis.
Ziba Mir-Hosseini is an Iranian legal anthropologist, specializing in Islamic law, gender, and development who lives in London. She obtained her B.A. in Sociology from Tehran University (1974) and her Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from University of Cambridge (1980). She is Senior Research Associate at the London Middle Eastern Institute, SOAS, University of London and has held numerous research fellowships and visiting professorships. Since 2002 she has been Hauser Global Law Visiting Professor at the School of Law, New York University.
Since the 1979 Revolution in Iran , she has done research in Teheran family courts and has followed developments in family law debates about gender issues in the Islamic Republic. Ziba is currently a member of the Council of Women Living under Muslim Laws and a founding member of Musawa Global Movement for Equality and Justice in the Muslim Family.
Mir-Hosseini’s publications include the monographs Marriage on Trial: A Study of Islamic Family Law in Iran and Morocco (I. B. Tauris, 1993, 2002), Islam and Gender: The Religious Debate in Contemporary Iran (Princeton University Press, 1999; I. B. Tauris, 2000), and (with Richard Tapper) Islam and Democracy in Iran: Eshkevari and the Quest for Reform (I. B. Tauris, 2006). She has also directed (with Kim Longinotto) two award-winning feature-length documentary films on contemporary issues in Iran: Divorce Iranian Style (1998) and Runaway (2001).
Saadiya Sheikh is a Senior Lecturer of Islamic Studies and Feminist Theory at the University of Cape Town.
Dr. Sa’diyya Shaikh’s research and teaching are focused in the area of Islamic Studies with a twin focus on Sufism and feminism. She has previously published on issues of Muslim women and gender violence; feminist approaches to hadith and Quranic exegesis; contraception and abortion in Islam; theoretical reflections on Islam and feminism; Sufism, gender and Islamic law; and “Engaged Sufism”.
Currently she is completing a manuscript on gender and sexuality in the works of a 13th century Sufi thinker, Ibn Arabi. In collaboration with the Department of Psychology at the University of Stellenbosch and the NGO, “Positive Muslims”, Dr Shaikh has initiated and is co-directing a research project that focuses on sexuality, marriage, HIV/Aids and reproductive choices amongst South African Muslim women.
Omaima Abou-Bakr is Professor at Cairo University, and a founding member of The Women & Memory Forum, a non-governmental women’s studies and research center based in Cairo. She received her education at Cairo University, North Carolina State University, and the University of California at Berkeley.
Abou-Bakr specializes in medieval Sufi poetry and comparative topics in medieval English and Arabic literature. Her scholarly interests also include women’s mysticism and female spirituality in Christianity and Islam, feminist theology, Muslim women’s history, and gender issues in Islamic cultural history and discourse.
She has published a number of articles in both English and Arabic on poetry and other medieval literary texts, as well as gender-sensitive readings of women’s pre-modern historical representation (in Islam) and of developing religious discourses.
Dr. Durre Sameen Ahmed is Professor of Psychology and Communication at the National College of Arts, Pakistan’s leading institution of higher education in the Arts. A practicing psychotherapist, she has wide interdisciplinary research interests spanning psychology, culture, religion, women/feminism, education and inter- cultural/interfaith dialogue.
She studied at Columbia University, New York, receiving MA’sinSociology(1978), Communication(1980), and Education (1981). She also received her Doctorate in Communication and Education (1983) from Teachers College, Columbia University. Her works include ”Masculinity, Rationality and Religion” (1995), ”Gendering the Spirit: Women, Religion and the Postcolonial Response” (2001) and the six volume series ”Women and Religion” (1994-1999).
Since 1999 she has been Visiting Professor at the Center for Intercultural Management and Intercultural Communication, Belgium, where she teaches an annual course on Islam and Culture and has lectured on women, religion and Islam in numerous universities in Europe. She has been awarded a Fatima Jinnah Memorial Gold Medal by the Government of the Punjab, Pakistan, for outstanding contributions to education and research (2008).
Naila Tiwana is a student of Sufism and serves as a Representative & Guide in the Chishti-Inayati lineage. Currently residing in Pakistan, Naila leads the spiritual center of the Sufi Order International in Lahore. Her interests include the re-interpretation of the Qur’an’s teachings in a universalistic light and developing a deeper understanding of the Feminine as a necessary step in humanity’s final evolution to restore balance to gender-biases. At present she is engaged in doing a Master’s programme in Comparative Philosophy – Western and Islamic Mysticism.
She has been writing on Sufism and Islamic Spirituality, including translating an Urdu Sufi text into English which is in the pipeline for publication. She has attended various conferences abroad, including the Sidi Shiker Conference in Morocco in July 2009, the GPIW Conference in Jaipur, India in March 2008, and International Congress of Islamic Feminism Conference in Barcelona, in 2006. Her writings and work may be accessed at her website, www.nazr-e-kaaba.com .
Ms. Arquiza is the Secretary General of the Asian Muslim Action Network in Philipinnes (AMAN-PHIL), an Asia-wide network of Muslims working for human rights, peace and social justice through inter-cultural and inter-faith dialogue. She is also the Executive Director and senior researcher for an all-women, mostly-Moroland (an indigenous community in the Philipines) research collective. The aim of the organization (HAGS, Inc.) is to work towards indigenous women’s empowerment.
Sheikha Maryam Kabeer Faye, has been trained extensively by the blessed hand of Sheikh Harun Rashid Faye, as a Sheikha in the Mustafawiyya Tariqat.
She is the author of the prize-winning book, Journey Through Ten Thousand Veils, The Alchemy of Transformation on the Sufi Path. She is a frequent speaker and teacher on Spirituality, Islam, and Tassawuf in conferences as well as in the media.
She is a teacher of Qur’an and spiritual development to people in America and elsewhere in the world, and a teacher of Islamic Studies to women in prison.
Her house in Philadelphia is a zawiyyah of the Mustafawiyya Tariqat and refuge for spiritual travelers, for those seeking knowledge, awareness, and remembranceof God.
She travels extensively across the globe on the mission of building bridges of light and understanding.
Etin Anwar is committed to understanding the role of women in society and within Islamic philosophy and theology.
While grounded within the traditions of Islamic thought, Anwar asks tough questions about the role of feminism, the interpretation of the Qur’an and the place of hierarchical gender systems.
Her most recent book “Gender and Self in Islam,” explores the methods that might succeed in bringing about an egalitarian change. These include the reform of a nation’s judicial and legal system to respect individuals equally and cultural change through religious and social means. As Anwar points out, no matter how egalitarian a country’s judicial system, the advancement of true equality requires a culture that embraces these forward-thinking ideals.
“Along with the Muslim community, the state must take a role in regulating equality,” Anwar said. “But if this fails to reach the grassroots, you are not accomplishing much.”
Anwar is also influenced by Sufism. She has studied this important spiritual tradition within the context of the diversity of the Islamic faith and is currently working on a book titled “Ibn Sina’s Philosophy of Mystical Experience.”
Prominent sociologist, Abdessamad Dialmy has spent decades of research addressing issues of sexuality and gender relations in Morocco and the connection between Sufism and feminism. His works are concerned with social questions, seeking answers to the problems of contemporary Islam at the same time facing the tenets of Islamism.
Born in Casablanca in 1948, he is professor at the University of Fez. He is also director of the Interdisciplinary Laboratory Studies on Health and Population (LIDESP) at the University of Fez.
His publications include the monographs: Woman and Sexuality, 1985 (in Arabic); Knowledge and Sexuality, 1987 (in Arabic); Sexuality and Discourse in Morocco, 1988 (in French); The sociological issue in the Arab World (in Arabic); Sufi Feminism: fassi tale and sexual initiation 1991 (in French); Housing, Sexuality and Islam in Morocco, 1995 (in French); Feminism, Islamism and Sufism, 1997 (in French); Youth, AIDS and Islam in Morocco, 2000 (in French); Toward an Islamic Sexual Democracy, 2000 (in Arabic).
Juan José Tamayo Acosta is a Spanish theologian linked to christian liberation theology. Currently heads the department of Theology and Sciences of Religions in University Carlos III and is founder and current Secretary General of the Progressive Association of Theologians John XXIII.
In his book Islam. Culture, Religion, Politics (ed. Trotta 2009) proposes an Islamo-Christian theology of liberation, based on liberating elements and principles of social justice common to both traditions, including the gender dimension.
Bachelor of Theology for the Pontifical University of Comillas and Doctor of Theology for the University of Salamanca. Diploma in Social Sciences at the Institute Leo XIII. Degree and PhD in Philosophy for the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid. He has taught at several institutions in Spain and America. Lectured extensively in the United States, Spain and Latin America. Author of numerous articles and books. He writes in numerous magazines and newspapers.
Iranian activist for the rights of women, Nahid Tavasoli is a journalist and writer. She is executive director of Nafeh, a journal of cultural and artistic issues, member of the central council of the Association of Women Journalists of Iran, and member os the association for the defense of press freedom in Iran.
Involved in the process of democratization of the Iranian regime, she is member of the founding committee of the Iranian Women’s Party, which participation has been prohibited in the elections of 2005 and 2009.
She has published a compilatory book of his writings on gender issues, entitled Why women’s dream is false? 2005.
She has also participated in the campaign to collect one million signatures in favor of equality in Iran, through which it is intended to pressure the government to change discriminatory laws against women Muslim force in the country.
Nahid Tavassoli investigations focus on issues of religion and comparative literature, with special attention to gender issues.
Women Studies, PhD.Director of Insan Center for Gender and women’s Studies. at Alquds University
Fadwa Al-Labadi, Women’s movement activist, Ph.D. in Women’s Studies and at the University of Kent, at Canterbury (UK), Associate Professor of Gender Studies and Social Development, is the Director of INSAN Center for Gender Studies and head of Development Studies Department at the Al-Quds University, East Jerusalem. She is also Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, USA, Visiting Scholar at York University in Canada.
Arzu Merali is a mother, writer and activist based in northwest London, UK. Her writing focuses on human rights, Islam and social justice. Her work has appeared in various media, including Cultures of Resistance, The Guardian, New Internationalist, Q-News and Hecate. She has authored various reports, and has spearheaded a new project on assessing levels of hate crime in various European countries. She is co-editor of the recent volume, Towards a New Liberation Theology: Reflections on Palestine.
Her essay about her time as a student at Cambridge University entitled ‘The Road to Radicalisation starts at King’s’ will be published later in 2010 by Third Millennium in the volume A Book of King’s.
She is one of the founders of the Islamic Human Rights Commission (www.ihrc.org.uk) and is currently working on developing a new publishing arm, to promote human rights through creative expression. As part of this she will be editing a volume of spoken word from young Muslim performance poets entitled, We Read, We Speak for publication in 2011.
Houria Bouteldja, of Algerian origin, is founder and spokeswoman for the Indigenous of the Republic Party, founded in 2005, through which the struggle against segregation, the consequences of the old colonial order and Islamophobia in France.
In 2003, he participated in founding the group “Les Blédardes” in reaction to the collective “Neither whores nor submissive”. Similarly, has opposed the law on religious symbols in schools, through the collective “a school for all”.
She is co-author with Philippe Lemoine, Pierre Bellanger et de la Revolution in 2010? Les vrais enjeux de 2007, Descartes et Cie, 2007
Asghar Ali Engineer, is a reformist-writer and activist. He also is known internationally for his work on liberation theology in Islam. He leads the Progressive Dawoodi Bohra movement. He is an advocate of a culture of peace, non-violence and communal harmony. He is presently the head of the ‘Institute of Islamic Studies’ and the ‘Centre for Study of Society and Secularism’, both of which he founded in 1980 and 1993 respectively.
Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer is a noted Islamic Scholar who has been trained in tafsir (commentary on Quran) and hadith (Prophet’s sayings) and Islamic jurisprudence.
He has been awarded several awards, including the Dalmia Award for communal harmony in 1990, honorary D.Litt. by the University of Calcutta in 1993, the ‘Communal Harmony Award’ in 1997 and the Right Livelihood Award in 2004 (with Swami Agnivesh) for his ’strong commitment to promote values of co-existence and tolerance’.
Co-founder and vice president of the Catalan Islamic Board since 2005. Co-director of the International Congress on Islamic Feminism (Barcelona, 2005, 2006 and 2008).
BA in Linguistics for the University of Barcelona, she has taught Spanish in the Faculty of Arts at the University Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar (Senegal) and is currently a professor of education in France.
Head of Professional Expert Course Studies in Culture, Islamic Civilization and Religion of the National University of Distance Education (UNED) of which he is head of studies. She has been director of webislam.com, the most visited Muslim website in Spanish language.
Representative of Spain in the creation of the Shura Council, International Council of Muslim Women Consultation (New York). She is part of a group of experts for the Council of Europe which aims to produce a guide which will be proposed policies for immigrants.
http://mlaurerodriguezquiroga.wordpress.com/
M. Laure Rodriguez Quiroga is an activist and theorist of contemporary Islamic feminism. For almost 20 years, she has been Social Worker. Currently she’s President the Union of Muslim Women of Spain, coordinating the Network of Muslim Women “An-nisa” (www.umme.es). She is Director of Social and Intercultural Consultant Torre de Babel (www.torredebabel.org), where gender advisor for the Federation of Muslim Spain (FEME). Is a collaborator in Webislam Portal (www.webislam.com) and member of the Red ecofeminist (Berdeak-Los Verdes).
He has lived and travelled around the world, making contact with the reality of gender discrimination: Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Mexico, Morocco, Algeria, Sahara… He has worked on prostitution, abuse, migration, multiculturalism, drug dependence, international cooperation female genital mutilation, etc. He founded the Association of Women Migrant GARAIPEN in Basque Country, like the Young Women Muslim Association Bidaya.
Is a photographer and has done various reports and presentations focused on Muslim women, a tool that has allowed social denunciation.
Fariba Alasvand (Iran, 1967). PhD in women’s issues. Member of the Scientific Board and Researcher, Centre for Studies and Research for Women. member of the Socio Cultural Board of Women (under the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution) (www.womenrc.ir). She has been studying Islamic jurisprudence, philosophy and Kalam, as well as interpretations of Nahj al-Balagha, for 22 years. She has participated in national and international symposia, in the U.S., Austria, Switzerland, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Syria and at scientific and cultural conferences. She has written numerous articles for the conventions on women held at the UN between 2006 and 2007.
Alasvand began teaching jurisprudence in the seminaries of Masjed Soleiman, from 1986 to 1990. In that year she started her life as a professor at the Society of Al Zahra in Qom. She has also taught classes at the University of Tehran. Following his many trips abroad to participate in academic conventions, Alasvand proposed the idea to form the World Society of educated women.
She has written several books on gender and Islam: Women and equal rights, Criticism and study of the Convention against discrimination of women, the women among their rights and duties, Women in the Prophet’s life, Management of life operating with religion.
